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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25935037">光る兆し</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kya0810/pseuds/kya0810'>kya0810</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>SixTONES (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Colors, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Slow Burn, there might be smut idk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:34:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,771</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25935037</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kya0810/pseuds/kya0810</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Taiga found himself the light of his life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kyomoto Taiga/Matsumura Hokuto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <em>And when the light starts flashing like a photobooth</em>
</p><p>
  <em>(And the stars exploding, we’ll be fireproof)</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Taiga finally made it to college.</p><p>In the name of the Kyomoto family, he’d been accepted into Toudai, the most exclusive university in the whole nation, only for elites that may lead the country someday. He didn’t know what he was doing here to be honest, he just took the exam, got in, pleased his family, picked up an art major because he couldn’t do anything else, just so. Living a life as scheduled, Kyomoto Taiga. He was used to being torn apart by expectations not only of his own, stressed out so much to wake up at midnight and cry his pressure out, to get into this place. It’d better be good. It’d better be soft to handle.</p><p>As he walked inside the university grounds on the first day of school, there was a noisy crowd jumping back and forth next to the side gate. People were discussing who scored the highest in the special entrance exam, finding out who was that genius that would take the hearts of the school’s meanest professors for the next 4 years. Normally Taiga would just turn away, not minding anyone’s business, but there was that dainty push of the universe forcing him to made his way through the crowd. And Taiga lifted his eyes.</p><p>Matsumura Hokuto.</p><p><em>A star, just like his name, </em>he thought. The name was pretty, not too much, not too little. But his scores were as <em>too much</em>. Top in all four subjects, slayed them all. Taiga unconsciously put the name inside the drawer at the backside of his head, he didn’t know what to do with it, it was easy to read, easy to remember, and by the slightest thought, he assumed the person would be as beautiful as its meaning, like a northern star. Not that he wanted to meet this guy anyway. Because why should he.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Taiga chose the seat in the back at the lecture hall. He didn’t need any interaction for the first day, his introverted heart could not take anyone new into his life. 4 years, just 4 years.</p><p>A boy rushed into the class and broke the boring silence. Everyone turned to him, a young man with messy hair but with impressive yet exotic fashion style, apologizing non-stop to the professor and bowing at the class. The old professor glanced and signaled him to go straight to the back, but he suddenly stopped the boy.</p><p>“I respect your audacity to come late on the first day of school, young man. The name, please?”, the old man slowly asked.</p><p>“Matsumura, sir. Matsumura Hokuto.” The young boy answered while catching up with his breath.</p><p>There were shattering whispers immediately after the boy revealed his name. Taiga lightly swallowed an air under his throat, murmured the name <em>Matsumura Hokuto</em>, and shortly recalled who that was. The school’s new fond boy. Taiga was right. He looked magnificent, even more than a northern star. More than any visible star. Taiga was taken aback by his own thought for a second, why was he so impressed with another guy’s appearance? Why did his eye sight became tremendously good right now yet it’d been so bad for the past 19 years? Why, despite being twenty meters away, Taiga could still focus on his elegant straight nose like mount Fuji’s flank, his jet black hair like stormy clouds and his full lips exhaling the life of spring. He only went back to reality when the boy rushed to the back of the class and took the only seat available. Next to him.</p><p>“Hi, I’m Matsumura. Sorry to interrupt the lecture.” Hokuto said it gently ‘though he was still catching his breath, the smile exposing his sharp fangs that could do stuff.</p><p>But his smile disappeared right away when Taiga turned at him. The gorgeous boy now looked like he was hit with a tsunami. His eyes open wide as he stared at Taiga, eyebrow narrowed, lips parting as he was trying to voice out a fact he didn’t want to admit.</p><p>“Hey…I’m Kyomoto Taiga…is there something on my face?”, Taiga burst out a little laugh to break the awkwardness between them caused by Hokuto’s stare, which didn’t look like it was gonna end soon.</p><p>Hokuto let out a heavy breath like someone had just grabbed his heart and squeezed it tight, but then his expression cheered up like a puppy wagging his tail. When Hokuto was about to say something back, the professor scolded at the boy for being late and talkative in just one morning. They both had to turn their head down back to the notebooks, but Taiga swore he saw Hokuto giggled under his throat at the corner of his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Remember when we first met?</em>
  <em><br/>
You said "light my cigarette"<br/>
So I lied to my mom and dad<br/>
I jumped the fence and I ran</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Well, to be honest, college wasn’t as bad as he assumed it would be, schoolwork was heavy but doable, the “elite” friends were at least polite enough, as they were educated so, the professors were quite understanding. Everything was good so far. But not to the point that Taiga would take his first step to break his shell and throw himself out there to be close with anyone, yet. He needed time, also silence, which made the library his favorite place. The colossal 19<sup>th</sup>-century Western-based library had the most artistic vibe he had ever experienced elsewhere; Victorian windows full of light, elegant chandeliers made of stained glass, not to mention the dominant presence of wooden furniture which soothed the eyes of every guest. Taiga always came here after class when he didn’t feel like going home, which occurred quite frequently. He put down his backpack and stood up to reach for the bookshelves line. 19<sup>th</sup> century Arts column. There were hundreds of them. Taiga walked between the mobile bookshelves, taking in the fragrance of ancient documentary written on decaying papers, dragging his two fingers along, drawing a line among the dust. Something suddenly caught his eye: Victorian Fashions and Costumes. <em>This can be my new inspiration source, </em>he thought. When he touched the book’s spine, there was an opposite force pulling backwards. The book was taken away to the other side, <em>there were hundreds of them, unlucky me-</em></p><p>“Ah-”</p><p>A familiar voice coming from the other side,</p><p>“Kyomoto-kun!”</p><p>Taiga bent down to look through the newly-made space, his jaw slightly dropped,</p><p>“Oh- Matsumura-kun…”</p><p>Hokuto ran his away around the shelves to directly face Taiga. Taiga took a step back. He was stunned. Taiga gazed at Hokuto, spellbound by the other’s miraculous charm for at least five seconds. The way Hokuto’s hair shuffled when he ran, his beige trench coat flickering in sync with his movements, the sparkling rings nested on his slender fingers, and the eyes, so calm like the sea and bright like there was a supernova exploding deep behind, and his smile-</p><p>“Hey! Didn’t expect to see you here!”, Hokuto blurted out a sentence like he had prepared it a long time before. Taiga was pulled back to reality with that sudden start of a conversation, he tried to put himself together,</p><p>“Hi…I come here a lot recently, just a way to clear my mind.”</p><p>Taiga swore there was something odd with the way Hokuto looked at him when he talked. It was not just as normal as seeing a new friend hanging around, not as normal as being surprised, or focused, or curious, anything. It was the look that you spotted something so precious that once had been lost and then was found. It was the look of an author when he revived the inspiration to write, a songwriter when he could finally combine notes to make a melody, a designer when he found his muse in seven billion people. Taiga swore Hokuto made him feel like he was a discovery. <em>Hokuto’s discovery.</em></p><p>They walked alongside to Taiga’s chosen table, exchanging a few chat, then silently sat down. Talking was not permitted in the library, so they decided to communicate another way. Hokuto slipped a note into Taiga’s hand,</p><p>
  <em>I normally don’t do this but…can I have your number? You know, we’re in the same class, maybe we can do groupwork sometimes…</em>
</p><p>Taiga was about to give Hokuto a praise for his weirdly neat handwriting, but the content was just too odd. A beautiful and talented, so so talented boy asking for his number to do groupwork? Well if that made his college life better, then…</p><p>
  <em>I think you’re pretty much smart enough to do anything, even teaching in this school. But well, we’ll see how we progress.</em>
</p><p>Hokuto giggled as he received the note back. He quickly pulled out his phone and typed the numbers in, and then there came a text into Taiga’s phone.</p><p>This was weird. They got along faster than any of their relationships, ever. The first time in Taiga’s life, he was ready to have a friend to talk to freely with, who could make him stare at for a few minutes without boredom, and whose touch he wasn’t afraid to feel.</p><p>The last beam of sunset casted on Hokuto face like an apricot shade acrylic paint over a Greek statue, and for God’s sake, Hokuto was explicitly gorgeous. Taiga’s heart was really racing its marathon there when Hokuto turned his head, his side profile was like a gift from nature. So precisely carved, so perfectly calculated. The lighting splashed shadows onto Hokuto’s face, separated aureate skin from the valley between his nose and cheek, sharpened every angle. Hokuto suddenly turned his look to Taiga, gave him a smile, so gentle, caught Taiga staring at him, and Taiga smiled back like this was the most natural thing to do.</p><p><em>What is it?, </em>Hokuto whispered with almost no sound coming out,</p><p>Taiga softly shook his head. He was just enjoying a scene. Hokuto was just some kind of a masterpiece in Louvre that he only had to pay by his spare time in the afternoon, or just by attending classes. Hokuto was just so, just so, after all.</p><p>At least that was what he really thought then.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>But we couldn't go very far<br/>
'Cause you locked your keys in your car<br/>
So you sat and stared at my lips<br/>
And I could already feel your kiss</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Is there anything new at school, dear? You look delighted, which is rare.”</p><p>Taiga’s mom casually asked on the dinner table, her son seemed to be a little different from usual. Eating more, phased out smiling, sneaking his eye to his phone every ten minutes-</p><p>“Nothing, school is fun.” Taiga pursed his lips without looking up, making a new friend is no proud thing to share out. Everyone had got used to him being overly introverted, and he hated the way people cared too much on how he dealt with relationship. He could do fine, not just right before their eyes.</p><p>But the instinct of a mother was never wrong.</p><p>“You’re nineteen already huh, did you meet the one yet?”, she was curious,</p><p>“Mom, you really expect me to believe in those myths? Everyone’s eyes are completely black, pitch black, okay, not any color from the rainbow!”</p><p>Taiga didn’t think it was real for a bit. The soulmate thingy. They said when you met the one destined for you, you would see a colored light escaping from their eyes when they looked at you, decided by fate. His parents had been boasting about how they found each other by recognizing the purple color glowing out when they first met. Taiga thought it was a hoax, because except for the destined ones for each other, no one could see it. How could they prove it to him? But it was none of his concern anyway. He finished his meal as quickly as possible to return to his nest upstairs.</p><p>Sitting on the bed with his laptop on, his phone jingled. A text from Hokuto just got through. He picked it up so fast that he nearly dropped it again, carefully checked if that was the right person,</p><p>
  <em>Matsumura: Kyomoto, you sleep yet?</em>
</p><p><em>What an opening,</em> he thought. Hokuto texted him for night chitchatting, something only done by girls? Taiga found himself smiling fondly at the text that he forgot to answer for a few minutes.</p><p>
  <em>Kyomoto: No, still got some reports to crawl. You?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Matsumura: Reading. Our Victorian book. Seeing a blonde royal model which reminds me of you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kyomoto: Are you sure she’s pretty enough to get you to remember me in the middle of the night?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Matsumura: No, not even close. This crown fits you more.</em>
</p><p>Hokuto sent him the picture of the crown, Taiga grinned. They kept talking about minor stuffs, like Taiga’s handpicked Conan chapter, how many shirts Hokuto owned, what the meaning of all the rings on his fingers were, how Taiga survived with only tomato day by day, and so many more. Hokuto told Taiga stories he never knew. He liked this feeling, having someone to make the night shorter, and wishing that the sun would come out faster so they could meet. Taiga unconsciously dropped his phone before being able to read the good night message Hokuto was just about to send.  He hoped Taiga would wake up with good spirit tomorrow.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Taiga shivered as he was walking on the last layer of snow at the end of his first winter on campus. He was enjoying this. It’s been months since they knew each other, him and Hokuto, going from library pals to best friends. In fact, Taiga wasn’t sure if they really were friends.</p><p>Yes, Taiga came to Hokuto’s karate finals, and was there with him when he lost the battle, coming home with a runner-up title.</p><p>Yes, Hokuto successfully dragged Taiga out of the house on December 3<sup>rd</sup>, and was there with him the whole time; they found themselves under the roof of a cozy café hidden at some unknown corner, sharing stories that had never been told.</p><p>Time flew, before Taiga realized, Hokuto was everywhere.</p><p>Hokuto waved at him from the second floor.</p><p>Hokuto lent him an XL hoodie when the wind sneaked into Taiga’s sleeves.</p><p>Hokuto sharpened Taiga’s pencils which could now be used as weapons.</p><p>Hokuto fell asleep by the campus’ fireplace, focusly reading, went straight into Taiga’s empty canvas.</p><p>Hokuto leaning at the graphite column, breathing hot breaths into both his hands, patiently waiting for Taiga at the gazebo.</p><p>Hokuto ignored the girls around him, not because he wanted to look cool, but he was too shy to talk and he just froze right there, wishing Taiga to come out right then. And yet Hokuto always started their conversation.</p><p>A thank you was not enough.</p><p>
  <em>I want to spend my first spring with him the most fascinating way I have ever felt.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The library had become their favourite hideout. Every afternoon at exactly five when school ended, they would sneak up behind the last mobile shelve, sitting next to each other on the floor. Sometimes they whispered how the day was, sometimes they would only focus on their homework, eyes not glancing anywhere but the laptops in front of them. There were moments when Taiga threw his head up a bit. Above his head was the open window, letting the wind in to play with the chiffon curtains, and the light, how it smoothly landed on his straightened legs, he wiggled his toes, having fun bathing in such glittering rays. He wished for time to stop right there, right then. He felt safe. Hokuto felt safe. And March was like a lullaby.</p><p>Taiga opened his eyes lazily, feeling a pressure on his head, which was laying on someone’s shoulder. He quickly gained his sense back, surrounding them was darkness, the only light source was the dim table lamps not made for lightening up any space. Hokuto’s head was on his, sleeping soundly. Taiga didn’t want to wake him up. Hokuto was warm and smelled good, they’d never been this physically close before, and the thought made Taiga’s heart jump. So this was how a girl would feel near Matsumura Hokuto. No, this was how he felt touching Matsumura Hokuto. Taiga unconsciously snuggled up a bit, but his moves woke Hokuto up.</p><p>“Taiga, I can’t see, where are we?”, Hokuto gave it a yawn as he shook his head slowly from one side to another, still didn’t understand the situation they were in.</p><p>Taiga thought that was cute and <em>oh, </em>the first thing Hokuto did when he woke up was calling his name, even when Hokuto completely forgot how and why he was there. Taiga loved the way Hokuto kept calling him by his first name recently. No more Kyomoto’s pride. Only Taiga, just Taiga.</p><p>He pulled yawning Hokuto up and they left the place. Checking his phone, there was a message from Taiga’s parents, saying he should have dinner outside since they wouldn’t be home until tomorrow for work, which made him hum silently.</p><p>“Wanna go grab a bite?”, Taiga suggested.</p><p>“I don’t like eating out, I’d prefer my own cooking”, Hokuto answered while still in a daze, he unknowingly grabbed Taiga’s trench coat, lingering on their closeness while completely led by Taiga all the way out, because he was bad with darkness.</p><p>“I’ll go for it then, my parents aren’t home, and I don’t want instant noodles”. There was an unheard disappointment in Taiga’s voice.</p><p>“Are you okay with…”, Hokuto took a slight breath in, “…coming to my place? I…I can cook”, he sounded half-way nervous at this point, “I love cooking anyway…but it’s okay if you wanna go somewhere else you know, uhm, I can-”</p><p>“Your place then.”</p><p>Taiga smiled warmly at how adorable Hokuto was with his sudden invitation, mixed with tension and <em>god</em>, how could Taiga say no when Hokuto still holding on him like a lost puppy. Again, Taiga was never so sure in his life that the younger’s left eye just <em>twinkled</em> when he said he’d come, like there was really a supernova deep inside that pupil.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Remember when you taught me fate</em>
  <em><br/>
Said it'd all be worth the wait<br/>
Like that night in the back of the cab<br/>
When your fingers walked in my hand</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Hokuto in apron was then Taiga’s new weakness. He laid his head on the sofa, blonde hair covered half of his face, but Hokuto from across the kitchen never felt so close, the way his hand tensed when he flipped the eggs, his hair being tied into a tiny ponytail, curved inwards at the end, his eyes shone the light of fire, warm and calming. There was only darkness from the living room where Taiga was sitting, he could barely see himself with the moonlight outside of the curtainless window. But where Taiga’s eyes landed was the complete opposite. Hokuto’s kitchen was intentionally luminous, his lighting system was really one of a kind; a medium-size chandelier on top, three smaller recessed cans above the dining area, led system connected the whole footage right on the floor. <em>Scintillating, </em>just like Hokuto himself.</p><p>“Dinner’s ready, come on in!”, Hokuto called him endearingly, and Taiga slowly approached.</p><p>He felt like walking up to heaven in his desperate dreams. He stepped out from the gloomy space, to where there was Hokuto, cutting raw tomatoes, putting it into Taiga’s dish, while radiating irresistible charm, and care, and love.</p><p><em>Love, </em>huh,</p><p>
  <em>So maybe this is what love feels like. </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>“Taigaaa, how is it?”, Hokuto asked with an alluring grin,</p><p>“Raw tomartou, jen ponts, da rest, elevarn~”</p><p>“I don’t get that, swallow your food kiddo!”</p><p>“Raw tomatoes, ten points. The rest, eleven.”</p><p>Taiga really in no mood for talking right now. Man, the food was not just delicious, it was <em>divine. </em>Yeah, sex was good, but had anyone tried Hokuto’s homemade? Was this even real, was Hokuto’s a world recognized chef or he just put some drugs in here to lure Taiga into his lair?</p><p> </p><p>They finished the food and did the dishes, and of course, Taiga didn’t have any chance to touch any chores. Hokuto could not trust Taiga to do anything that needs hand movements. The boys finally settled down on the floor of the Hokuto’s bedroom, sitting next to each other by the side of the bed, peacefully drinking some hot sake while gazing at the night sky outside the egress windows.</p><p>It took Hokuto a while to start a word. Taiga was tipsy by now, <em>what a light drinker</em>, the younger thought. The older started smiling for no reasons, giggled his hum, eyes sparkling, and cute hiccups, and leaning his whole body onto Hokuto’s shoulder.</p><p>Hokuto was weak. He planned all this. If Taiga was still sober at this point he would just bury himself alive.</p><p>“Hey…I heard people talk a lot about the soulmate thing…you know, some iridescent colors appear in the eye of your soulmate when you see it…the connection…and stuff”, Hokuto could feel his heart started beating faster, sentence messily formed,</p><p>“That was dumb”, Taiga’s words stopped Hokuto’s breathing for a split of a second, “they said soulmates should be around when you reached eighteen or nineteen…ish…right? That never happened to me, so no interest. Why you care?”</p><p>“Uhm…I think…I met the one for me already…”, Hokuto said it with hesitation, wishing the other could read between the lines.</p><p>Taiga lifted his head, seeking for Hokuto’s eyes. No colors. Pitch black. Like looking right into an endless well. Hokuto wasn’t the one. According to his disbelief.</p><p>“I see…”, he backed out a little from Hokuto, missing the younger’s warmth already,</p><p>“So…it’s real then. What color did you see?”, Taiga trying to be neutral, but he wasn’t feeling so well. He was gonna end this conversation in the next two or three sentences,</p><p>“Pink, bright pink. Like the sakura petals falling onto us from outside the library.”</p><p><em>See, Taiga, how happy he sounds right now, he’s even describing it in details, in, our, library!</em>, Taiga innerly screaming, confused, frustrated, desperate.</p><p>“It’s like…when I see right into his eyes, I swear to god, I felt the heat of fireworks, the depth of sea, the elegance of cherry blossoms, and a freaking supernova!”</p><p>
  <em>That was my line, you…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Oh wait, it’s a “his” huh. So Hokuto was basically sneaking behind my back to see some guys, out from the university because dude, we’re always together!!</em>
</p><p>“But I didn’t tell him anything, and he probably doesn’t know it yet. It’s because I wanna start things without the soulmate bounds, I want to make it truly what it should be, and I think…It’s time I should say it out…”</p><p>
  <em>Okay if you made up your mind then no need to tell me! That’s it, imma leave!</em>
</p><p>“Yeah…then, good luck with it, I think I need to go home, it’s late”,</p><p>Taiga folded this legs, all ready to stand up, but Hokuto pulled him back with a little too much force than necessary that made him fall down on Hokuto's lap, his legs spread out, sandwich Hokuto’s torso. Hokuto grabbed both his hands with just one move, then moved them closer to his heart.</p><p>“Hokuto, let me go! We have class tomorrow and it’s nearly midnight!”, Taiga’s voice should have been firmer, but even himself didn’t know why it spilled out so softer than he intended.</p><p>“Look at me, Taiga.” Hokuto demanded.</p><p>Taiga focused his sight into Hokuto’s eyes. Nothing happened.</p><p>“What do you see?”, Hokuto lowered his tone.</p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p>Taiga tried his best to calm his voice, confirming the fact broke him slowly, like being pushed with tease towards the edge.</p><p>Hokuto used his other hand to take something out from his left eye. Contact lenses. He kept the eyes close for a second and open them again, meeting Taiga’s.</p><p>Taiga felt like his head was being banged onto dry concrete.</p><p>“Tell me, Taiga. What do you see now?”, Hokuto’s words now were whispers.</p><p>Pink, bright pink. Like the sakura petals falling onto them from outside the library.</p><p>“What does it feel like, looking into my eyes?”, Hokuto leaned in, foreheads collided.</p><p>The heat of fireworks, the depth of sea, the elegance of cherry blossoms, and a freaking supernova.</p><p>Before Taiga could answer, his lips were drowned with Hokuto’s passion, soft, and moist, and breathy, the flush rose in his cheeks as the younger’s tongue touched his, quick and delicious, then firmer, more determined, more curious about the heat that lay within. It felt like humid rain, breezy wind, high sky, and hard ground, an explosion of the whole galaxy, compressed into a sensation that was too much for Taiga to bear and he was completely lost in Hokuto’s gaze.</p><p>Because their lips brushed together when their eyes were still open.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Taiga ran with all his might, just to realize the goal before his eyes was Hokuto, just Hokuto.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <em> Your guard is up and I know why. </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“Sorry I have to go I’ll see you somewhere okay goodnight!”</p><p>Taiga rushed out of Hokuto’s house like a prisoner breaking his way out of jail. He hopped on a taxi, catching his breaths. The taxi driver glanced eyes at him, worried if he was carrying a real criminal.</p><p>Taiga’s phone chimed non-stop the moment he got on the cab, all from Hokuto, until he arrived home. Dozens of missed calls and unseen texts. Taiga unlocked his phone by FaceID but he did not open the phone yet, he just wanted to read the texts without leaving a “seen” tag on them,</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Are you home?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Taiga, did I do something wrong?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Taiga, please call me back…” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “At this point I think I may misread the sign, but you saw it too, didn’t you, my eyes.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Taiga, at least return the text so I know you came home safely…” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “You must be really mad at me right now, I know I should have asked you first, and I’m sorry.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Can we still talk?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Taiga, can you leave a seen tag on these texts so I know you’re safe?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Taiga hesitated for a few moments before he decided to open the app to leave a seen tag. He didn’t want to talk but at least he wanted Hokuto to go to sleep without worrying about him. </p><p>God, what was he gonna do now?</p><p>Taiga sat silently in his room, didn’t bother to turn on the light. He was still a little tipsy from the sake, damn Hokuto knowing his weakness so well. </p><p>He thought of Hokuto’s kiss again. How their lips brushed on each other’s, and it felt like slow dance under the moonlight, how they fit perfectly like lock and key. Hokuto tasted like a new-born star, radiating too much affection for a human to bear, even black holes could not swallow the amount of light from Hokuto that Taiga had been exposed to.</p><p>Taiga turned his head, and next to him was his body mirror. He looked into the eyes of his reflection.</p><p>Had Hokuto been seeing lights coming out from those doe black eyes, all this time…<br/>He touched his one eye, trying to find at least a thin ray, but he found none. He dragged his fingers down his lips instead, and all on his mind was Hokuto’s full lips that took his breaths away. He could feel it again, and many times again, how their steamy orals were battling hard, and for god’s sake Taiga was distressed for having returned the kiss so eagerly. It was endearing, and longing, very much of a freshly-made attachment that Taiga was not ready to bond. </p><p>And he couldn’t stop himself being obsessed with their tongues tangling the string of fate.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The kiss meant something and I didn’t know what. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>.</p><p> </p><p>The next day, and the very next day, Taiga was literally playing cat and mouse with Hokuto. He went to class late and left early, or not even attended at all. He would sneak out of school and stop going to where they would usually visit, and whenever he saw Hokuto, he would run like a marathon champion, and kept on breaking his records every day. </p><p>And Hokuto kept on trying, encountering the other into a conversation every time he had a chance. The boy wished he could tell the world how much he wanted to date Kyomoto Taiga, the sound of it was explicitly victorious.</p><p> </p><p>But all of Taiga’s effort came to an end when Hokuto dared to skip one class and waited for Taiga’s outside the lecture hall. Hokuto grabbed his hand, and without the need of words, he took Taiga with him, far away from the crowd. There were girls talking behind their backs and Taiga didn’t know where to hide himself. </p><p>The blond boy was dragged into the school’s herbal garden, a house made completely by panels of stained glass that let the afternoon burning light come through the leaves, creating sparkling dots all over the place, decorating accessories on every movement within, accelerating one’s true beauty.</p><p>Taiga knew this was the end when Hokuto pushed him down a wooden table, forcing him to sit still. Hokuto shadowed over him, the black-haired boy levering himself by landing his hands on the table, and captured Taiga in between. </p><p>They didn’t exchange any words at first. Hokuto’s face was so close that Taiga kept his head turned to one side as he swallowed down an invisible pressure, breathing unevenly. Hokuto, on the other hand, looked extremely calm, and he glued his eyes on Taiga, like a big cat on the savanna, observing its first prey after a week left starving.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine, what do you want?”</p><p>Taiga’s patience was at the limit and he turned to Hokuto, and <em> good lord this was so fucking close, </em>their noses were less than an inch away, too close that Taiga could see wrinkles on Hokuto’s almost perfect features.</p><p> </p><p>“First, why are you wearing contacts? You have never worn them before, you’d use normal glasses.”</p><p> </p><p>One hit scored right into Taiga’s chest, he missed Hokuto’s firm voice, and after a long time it still sounded like angels’ choir,</p><p> </p><p>“I broke my glasses.” Taiga answered with no confidence, at all, even a 5-year-old kid would never get fooled by such stupid lie.</p><p> </p><p>“No, you’re trying to disprove me and the whole soulmate theory which you didn’t dare to believe, and excuse you, I’ve been looking into your eyes for a goddamn school year, yes I’m sure I have been looking into the right person.”</p><p> </p><p>Taiga took a deep breath. Suddenly Hokuto became so cocky and Taiga hated it, he pouted, like a spoiled child not having what he wanted. Seeing that made Hokuto soften his stare a bit, but not for long. That trick did not always work. </p><p> </p><p>“Okay then.” Taiga gazed his eyes away, “Let’s talk this straight.”</p><p> </p><p>Hokuto backed up slightly but not detached his hands from the table. Taiga took away the contacts,</p><p> </p><p>“What do you see, Hokuto?”</p><p> </p><p>“I see pink. Beautiful, shimmering pink.”</p><p> </p><p>Scorching rays from the sunset dominated the scenery, blended perfectly with the color of their frustrating eyes, enhanced the shade, blew lives into Hokuto’s determined beam.</p><p> </p><p>Taiga lifted his head again, to the point they could see breaths coming out from the lips,</p><p> </p><p>“And I do too.”</p><p> </p><p>Hokuto narrowed their distance the second time, but he tried not to touch Taiga by any means. He sounded like a whisper, so close yet so far,</p><p> </p><p>“Then what are you running from?”</p><p> </p><p>“What we see in front of our eyes is not always the truth, Hokuto.”</p><p> </p><p>Taiga was technically not running away. He was hiding, at a dark corner of nowhere but his own mental world. He became afraid to love anything fully, to invest himself in a person, for the underlying fear that eventually, he would be the one who got hurt.</p><p>And Taiga being born that way, being blessed with things that were gifted to him, but not fully his, and he could never feel such attachment before. The feeling he had for Hokuto was too vast to bear it by himself. </p><p>Layers by layers, Taiga painted onto his walls, thickened his barriers. Love to him was like an ocean, stormy but peaceful at the same time, and Taiga had never chosen to dive in and surf the waves. </p><p>He had always been hiding.</p><p> </p><p>“Hokuto, this can just be a fairytale we’re being told at night and will completely forget it in the morning. Did your mom tell you this? Did an adult tell you all these things you’re believing? And you just go with it, right, but have you ever asked why?”</p><p> </p><p>Hokuto narrowed his eyebrows, ready to oppose, but also ready to surrender at the same time. Taiga’s words were shaded with chains of disappointment that had been enslaving the boy in his own miserable reality. And one would never know how much Hokuto wanted to hug him tight right now, for how long only god knew, until the last flash of light retreated to the other side of the globe, through the deep night veil waiting for the flaming sun to shower the Earth with its warm loving brilliance again.</p><p> </p><p>“What if I told you I am that kid who believes in those fairy tales?”</p><p> </p><p>Taiga lifted his head to lock eyes with Hokuto, those starry eyes with pink rays,  glistering their charm on the face filtered upon by the dusk, sparkling in sync with every heartbeat, those that would lead Taiga travel far, far away,</p><p> </p><p>“I believe that everyone deserves a happy ending. I believe that we deserve a happy ending too.”</p><p> </p><p>Hokuto laced his fingers into Taiga’s, and he brought them up to their chest. He collided their foreheads together and Taiga could smell the mint fragrance from the other, and he wished to lean his head there forever,</p><p> </p><p>“It is up to us to decide if we would wade around in the shallow end, or blindly take that big dive. And I know you’re scared.”</p><p>He caressed the soft flushed cheeks,</p><p> </p><p>“Let me be your northern star, Taiga.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> You outshone any stars before, now, and after. Any stars being born millenniums ago, and millenniums ahead. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“So please,”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Hokuto, my dear, how can you be so sure… </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Please give me a chance. Please give <em> us </em>a chance.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> ...that I am worthy of someone as magnificent as you are? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>And with that, Taiga dashed himself away, turned his back on all the lights shimmering behind.</p><p> </p><p>.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Because the last time you saw me </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Is still burned in the back of your mind. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You gave me roses and I left them there to die. </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>No texts. No calls.</p><p>It’d been a few weeks already, since they last had a proper conversation in the glass house. Taiga still dreamt about it, how he could have answered differently and settled down with Hokuto with his imaginary bravery. He didn’t know if he was regretting it. He didn’t say yes or no.</p><p>He just casted himself away everytime, so this was just Hokuto who stopped chasing.</p><p> </p><p>They still went to class as usual. Taiga would still come in first, just barely focused. And sometimes Hokuto accidentally touched his hand in the middle of the lecture, Taiga just withdrew from the touch and mumbled his apology, despite knowing he needn’t have done so. Hokuto said nothing, he just looked wholly defeated, and tightened his fist a bit. </p><p>If they were to hold hands those times, Taiga was scared of the day when he could not suppress himself any more. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Some people think that the main differences between humans and other animal species are our ability of sophisticated reasoning, our use of complex language, our ability to solve difficult problems, and introspection. Others also feel that the ability for creativity or the feeling of joy or sorrow is uniquely human.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The lecture went on inside the spacious silent silence, like only the professor knew what was going on.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Can anyone list one specific thing that draws the line between us and other animals?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> People started discussing back and forth, but no hands were raised. Suddenly Hokuto raised his, and with a sorrowful but firm voice, he spoke his mind. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “I believe it is only humans that are scared of something not happening yet.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The class fell into quietness again, eyes focusing on Hokuto. Except for those rosy-colored eyes, hiding himself by turning his head to the window. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Care to explain yourself, Mr. Matsumura?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Of course, sir. Our brain is the most complex biological structure that nature has ever created, neurons and brain cells collaborate perfectly to generate, moderate, and control the flow of chemicals, what are so-called feelings.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> He lowered his head, his voice softened, throat vibrating his silenced emotions, </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “It is easy to feel like you want to do something, and it is going to be as clear as daylight, but the thing that prevents us from getting to the work is an underlying instinct deprived from ancient times, the feeling of fear, that when we’re frightened of losing, which meant death, some thousand years ago.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> He turned to Taiga, the one trying to avoid his gaze, </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “In the modern world, humans are afraid of a future when there are consequences of their own false actions. That’s why there are people who succeed, and people who fail. People can either feel disappointed for doing something, but for me, the feeling of regret when you decide not to do something is much greater.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Taiga, for the first time since they met, thought he finally, thoroughly, understood what Hokuto was saying. So he turned to look at the black-haired boy, only to find he was looking straight at him with a painful but hopeful glare.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “However, sir, innovations that change the world all came from the risk we were willing to take. And bravery is not having no fear, it is having so much fear but you still choose to stand up. Because there will always be light behind that shut door, it just takes a moment for us to gather ourselves, and open it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> That’s my answer, professor.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Hokuto sat down without giving a glance at Taiga, he thought he made his point clear already. Taiga kept lingering his look on Hokuto, there was something that just gave his heart an electric shock, like a realization. Hokuto was right, Taiga was so scared right now. But he wasn’t scared of a future when he would do something he claimed to be wrong. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He was scared of a future without Hokuto by his side. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> A future when he would regret retreating himself from Hokuto’s embrace. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Excellent, Mr. Matsumura.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>.</p><p> </p><p>When the last cherry blossom flower fell down from the branch up in Hokkaido, their first year in college was about to end. </p><p>June welcomed the heat with all kinds of festivals, high tides, clear skies, and never ending adventures. They said goodbye to all the classmates, wishing everyone the best, then silently sat down in their seats again, being the last ones to get out of the place marking the first time they saw each other. </p><p>The first time in nineteen years of living, Hokuto found those sparkling eyes.</p><p>No matter what they decided to do from now on, the wind still blew, clouds would rain, night and day kept switching places, an endless period of creation that put things in the right place, at the right time. The Earth would still rotate around the sun, which was also following the steps of every ancient star to whirled around something unknown at the center of the galaxy, and our galaxy was also floating at the speed of light in the universe’s fabric. Every moment passed could never, ever, throughout the history of time, be returned. So if Taiga chose to let go, it was what it was. And nothing could reverse his act and the impact of it on Hokuto, ever. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey,”</p><p> </p><p>Taiga had been waiting.<em> Thank you, whichever force that cracked Hokuto’s mouth open </em>.</p><p> </p><p>“Next week is my birthday, June 18th. Can we...can we go somewhere? As friends, of course. I have something to tell you that day.”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t have any plans that day...Where should we go?”, Taiga smiled shyly, feeling grateful for Hokuto still considering him as a close partner,</p><p> </p><p>“How about Asakusa, 7pm?”, Hokuto slightly cheered up, he didn’t expect Taiga would agree with the invitation so easily,</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll be there.”</p><p> </p><p>.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> So this is me swallowing my pride, </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Standing in front of you saying I'm sorry for that night, </em>
</p><p>
  <em> And I go back to December all the time. </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Despite the heat of summer, everyone still crowded the temple with barely any personal space. Girls with colorful yukata and couples holding lanterns with prayers written on, some had already floated them onto the small pond. It was somewhere past 6 PM already, but the sky was still as bright as noon. Hokuto, in his gray and white stripe yukata with black obi, was praying to the gods. He threw the coin, and he clasped his hand. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> No matter what may happen tonight, please give me strength for all things shall come. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The Asakusa that had stood proudly through every roughest stage of Japan, raging wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, and more, may it grant Hokuto’s wish, at least for his 20th birthday.</p><p>And now all he had to do was wait. Just wait. </p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>Taiga’s parents left the house early, they wanted to celebrate the festival with the relatives, a party that Taiga had already refused to stay any longer. His house was so silent that there was only the sound of crickets calling out mates audible. Barely no lights escaping out or sneaking into the house, every curtain closed and window shut. </p><p>Taiga was in a daze, he couldn’t tell what time it was. He could see nothing but the light from his phone, the notification bar was flooded with texts and calls he should have answered, but the sleepiness lured him in before he could set up the alarm. He was woken up by something deafeningly loud outside, like gunshots tearing the sky apart. Taiga crawled out from his bed and dragged the window curtains to one side.</p><p>There were no gunshots. There were only fireworks. Bright, colorful fireworks, dominated the deep night sky, like paints thrown upon a diamond-pierced dark dome.</p><p> </p><p>Taiga widened his eyes which were reflecting all the radiant heat, and with shaky hands he opened the phone. It was 9 PM. </p><p> </p><p><em> “ </em>Shit!”</p><p> </p><p>The lock screen wallpaper could hardly be seen because it was covered with Hokuto’s texts. As Taiga was trying to put on the most proper clothes he could in the shortest time, his phone still chiming each few minutes, carved deeper into Taiga’s sense of guilt. He rushed out of the house in a pyjama and a wrong pair of shoes, hair unruly, carrying on him nothing but his phone with a few thousand yens being kept inside the case.</p><p> </p><p>He bumped into a few people, apologies being said but not so cared, he had a mission in life to complete. Damn the family meeting that took ages to end, damn his weird sleeping schedule, damn his stupid brain to not set the alarm. It was Hokuto’s birthday. It was Hokuto’s fucking birthday.</p><p>The boy didn’t deserve this.</p><p>The boy didn't deserve someone like him.</p><p> </p><p>Insecurities burst out in his heart as brutal as the waves in his dream, drowning him so deep that he hit the sea bed, like the Titanic that could never meet the light of day ever again. Memories of their beautiful days invaded his brain, battling with his fear of being left alone. </p><p> </p><p>He remembered how Hokuto turned his head and looked at him when the last sunlight of the day kissed the boy’s perfect side profile in their library.</p><p> </p><p>He remembered how the lighting system in Hokuto’s kitchen smoothly caressed the boy’s body figure, the way he passed the salt, he flipped the egg on that burning pan, and his curvy ponytail, his gentle smile.</p><p> </p><p>He remembered how March sang them to sleep in a hidden corner between the bookshelves, when there were still cherry blossom petals following the wind and landed onto Taiga’s leg, as he was playing with the glistering light with his toes, and Hokuto’s shoulder was touching his softly, before the boy leaned his head on Taiga’s shoulder endearingly.</p><p> </p><p>And he remembered their first kiss. </p><p>Thousands of stars, gathering the light from centuries of lightyears ahead, through space and time, all compressed into Hokuto’s eyes, and that vast energy empowered their kiss, which soon became Taiga’s heart’s power house. </p><p> </p><p>He knew it now. He had never been so sure before.</p><p> </p><p>Taiga ran, and ran, so fast that time slowered itself. The people on the street now felt like dots of colorful lights, passing his way to Hokuto. Like he was crossing the bridge made of blinding stars.</p><p> </p><p>The fireworks ended, right after he reached Asakusa. The place was all empty. There were only the temple guards slowly sweeping the dead yellow leaves, sounding like scratches to his aching chest. </p><p> </p><p>“Hokuto! Hokuto!” He desperately called.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> No, no… </em>
</p><p>
  <em> But I promised him I would come… </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Tears crept up in his eyes, he hugged himself while running frantically, </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> I know it now, I have my answer now, please, gods from up above, I don’t want to lose him… </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Taiga searched for every corner of the temple, hope started to vanish in his heart. He couldn’t see anything. Nothing meant anything without Hokuto.</p><p>It felt like the light of his life being ripped off his eyes.</p><p>More than pain, it was regret.</p><p>It hit harder, deeper, and it whispered to him obnoxiously,</p><p>That Hokuto was tired of him.</p><p> </p><p>“Taiga…”</p><p> </p><p>Taiga turned his head back, there was someone calling him from the bridge over the small pond. </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <em> It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Hokuto stood there with ruffled hair and swollen eyes. The boy had been crying. Seeing it clenched Taiga’s heart, so tight it was suffocating him.</p><p> </p><p>“Hokuto, I’m so sorry, I swear I didn’t mean to come late, not to mention not to come. It was a long day and I forgot my alarm, and when I woke up it was already night and the fireworks were getting shot, and I ran here, and-...”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s okay, Taiga.” Hokuto masked a bitter smile, a tear was more than ready to fall down, “It’s okay, I just have one thing to say anyway.”</p><p> </p><p>Taiga just stood right there, trying to hold himself together. </p><p>But something snapped before his eyes, something forced his tears to flood out immediately, sucked all the air out from his lungs,</p><p>The light in Hokuto’s eyes, was gone.</p><p> </p><p>“I am giving up on you.”</p><p> </p><p>They said when the light disappeared from your soulmate’s eyes, it meant that they had been suffering enough to cut the string of fate. And now, Hokuto’s eyes were hollow spaces, real black holes, their gravity was such that Taiga couldn’t feel his legs anymore, and with a touch, he could collapse.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> But I love you. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Hokuto, no...please don’t be like this, I know I’ve been hurting you, so can you just hear me out for once-...”</p><p> </p><p>“It wasn’t any of your fault.” Hokuto grinned painfully when tears started to slide down the soft cheeks, “I was so selfish, I only focused on my feelings but not minding that you were annoyed, and I was intruding your life. I’ll take a step back. We can still be friends, right?”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> But I love you! </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“No, no please don’t say that! Hokuto, listen, I know it now, that I-...”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, it’s time for my birthday huh?” Hokuto wiped away his tears, and he threaded his hand into the pocket of his yukata, “I got us some last fireworks, what a waste if we couldn’t use them-”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> I love you. </em>
</p><p> </p><p><em> “ </em>I love you!” </p><p> </p><p>Taiga cried out, there was no way he could keep it in anymore. He stepped out and dove the waves.</p><p> </p><p>“I love you, Matsumura Hokuto!” Taiga let the tears falling freely on his flushed face, eyebrows narrowed, squeezed the tears out, his breath became uneven with hiccups, </p><p> </p><p>“Yes you, my soulmate or whatever it is, I said it, I love you!”</p><p> </p><p>“I was scared, Hokuto. I...There was never anything that really belonged to me before-...”</p><p> </p><p>Hokuto widened his eyes, they dried out completely, there was no more tears left to cry,</p><p> </p><p>“And then you came to my life like a wave in the ocean that I don’t know how to deal with! You were always there, so dearing, so close, so soft like that, and that made me scared!”</p><p> </p><p>Hokuto stepped closer to the trembling blond boy, he reached out a hand and touched the watery face,</p><p> </p><p>“I could feel it too, Hokuto, the weird feeling of attachment between us, it was so new to me that I didn’t know what to do, it creeped me out, do you know, every touch felt like an electric shock…”</p><p> </p><p>The black-haired boy leaned in, both his hands were on Taiga’s face, cupping the blond to lock eyes with him,</p><p> </p><p>“And then about 5 minutes ago when I finally understood what got into me, I was just scared and you were right, your words in the anthropology class, I got it, I got an answer for all this…”</p><p> </p><p>And Hokuto breathed out a smile, the happiest smile Taiga had ever heard and he could never imagine how beautiful it sounded in his ears. Hokuto looked like he was so overjoyed that he could hardly speak anything, he just glued their foreheads together.</p><p>Before Taiga could drop more words, he saw it.</p><p> </p><p>The world’s most magnificent scenery.</p><p> </p><p>Deep inside Hokuto’s pupils, there was something like the Big Bang, a dot of light forming, sparkling so bright it might blind Taiga forever, and it exploded, the fire ring became bigger, and bigger, until it spread all over Hokuto’s dark eyes. And then there were stars, beaming pink rays, travelling lightyears to find Taiga’s eyes.</p><p>Shining, shimmering, splendid.</p><p>There would be no wonders that could surpass the rebirth of Hokuto’s feelings for him.</p><p>What could surpass the creation of the whole universe? </p><p> </p><p>“I take my words back.”</p><p> </p><p>Taiga was ready, more than ready this time,</p><p> </p><p>“I love you, Kyomoto Taiga.”</p><p> </p><p>The blond leaned in and captured the other’s lips like his life depended on it. Tears kept pouring down but they were from the mutual feelings, and they felt like winning. Taiga grabbed Hokuto’s shoulder to deepen the kiss, only for a few seconds later that he hung himself by straddling his arms around Hokuto’s neck. He was surfing on the waves, welcoming the light of dawn back into his life.</p><p>Hokuto took his love by the waist, and he squeezed his embrace, like a promise not to surrender ever again.</p><p>That was it.</p><p>The heat of fireworks, the depth of sea, the elegance of cherry blossoms.</p><p>And only they knew, a blond boy whose insecurities being completely erased, with a black-haired boy who got himself reborn from the dust,</p><p>The taste of a supernova.</p><p>
  <br/>
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  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>----- After story -----</p><p> </p><p>“Now that we’re together doesn’t mean you can skip my birthday gift.”</p><p> </p><p>Hokuto was holding Taiga’s hand as they walked out of the temple, under the sky full of stars, and surrounded by lanterns lightening up the whole street, it felt like the celebration of their new start.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh...I...I forgot it at home, I was rushing here...I’ll give it to you tomorrow, okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“But…” Hokuto pouted, making a puppy sad face, “Today is my first day being twenty, and I got nothing from my boyfriend?”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Boyfriend, huh? I like the sound of that. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Taiga looked around the shops, until he found the one he needed. He pulled Hokuto to follow him, hands not letting go for any moment. He asked for the price just by instinct and took the goods.</p><p>It was a string made of braided traditional fibers, knotted into the shape of a bow.</p><p>He let go of Hokuto’s hand just to tie it to a small strand of his hair, and he found Hokuto’s hand again, as he led the hand up his face, and leaned onto it.</p><p> </p><p>“Taiga, what does it-...”</p><p> </p><p>“I am your birthday present.” His cheeks started to flush, and his eyes blinked shyly, “Am I good enough?”</p><p> </p><p>Hokuto swore he was reborn two times that destined night.</p><p>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I didn't plan for chap 2 I really didn't<br/>If you like my fic, you gotta thank my beta-reader :)))))) she made this happen</p><p> </p><p>Thoughts?</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So...my first fic since I joined the fandom in May 2020.<br/>Hope you guys have fun reading it! Hit me at @Hokku8 on twitter if you want a chat :&gt;<br/>And pleaseeeeee leave some comments below so I can improve my writing skill :&gt;</p></blockquote></div></div>
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